Columbia County Historical Society
You are the Ancestor of the Future
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
History helps people craft better solutions, and is at the heart of democracy. The Columbia County Historical Society collects, preserves, interprets, and presents the history, heritage, and culture of Columbia County, New York, and through its collections, exhibitions and programs strives to inspire local leaders, by bringing history into discussions about contemporary issues and to help understand multiple perspectives on the challenges facing our community. Historical stories reveal how earlier people met the challenges of their day and give us the wisdom to confront the challenges of today. Engaging a younger audience for the sustainability of our future is an ongoing challenge for the CCHS. We address this need by offering free field trips for every 4th grade student in Columbia County, New York to our 18th century Dutch homestead and our 19th century single-room schoolhouse, and by offering programming of interest to all age groups.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
'Day of History' 4th Grade Field Trips; Various school field trips
In the spring and fall hundreds of Columbia County’s fourth-graders visit the Luykas Van Alen House and Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse and participate in hands-on (and bilingual) activities based on Dutch architecture and landscape. Students learn to identify vletchegen on a Dutch home and the purpose of murrankers. At the one-room schoolhouse they learn about early 20th century schooling and practice writing their names in cursive and totaling numbers on a chalkboard (no calculators!).
The entire school field trip for Columbia County 4th graders is paid by CCHS, with funds raised specifically for this purpose:
https://www.cchsny.org/day-of-history.html
Other field trips are available for various school groups of different levels.
Fragments of the Past exhibition | Mohicans Lesson Plans
The Luykas Van Alen House is one of only a handful of surviving Dutch Colonial houses in the Americas. Built in 1737 on land purchased from the Mohicans, it remained in the Van Alen family for five generations.
Archaeology and other sources of information form a complete picture of the past. Objects from each excavation on the property tell the story of Native American occupation prior to Dutch settlers, agricultural life, trade with the Mohicans for the land, changing patterns of wealth in the family, and slavery. This exhibition Installed in the North Room of the Luykas Van Alen House is made possible by a generous grant from the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.
https://www.cchsny.org/van-alen-archaeology.html
Mohicans lived communally; women had equal rights as men, there was no slavery. Group elders managed daily activities, restricting overuse of resources to preserve them for the next seven generations.
Records show the Van Alens purchased this land from the Mohicans in 1666, wh
Dutch Fact and Fiction
The New York Council for the Humanities helped to sponsor two guest lecturers for the 'Dutch Fact and Fiction' Summer Lecture Series. Jaap Jacobs, a scholar from Holland, spoke in July on the Hudson River and New Netherland colony.
In August, popular biographer Brian Jay Jones discussed the life of Washington Irving, author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Cultural Heritage
'Early Heritage: A Cultural Legacy in Columbia County, New York'
This permanent outdoor narrative exhibit is open daily, dawn-to-dusk.
https://www.cchsny.org/wayside.html
Nelson Rockefeller - County Memories
For a large and enthusiastic audience, in November CCHS presented a panel of four of former Governor Rockefeller’s closest associates, as well as Charles Holcomb, author of the memoir, 'Oreos and Dubonnet'.
As Columbia County was first among the state’s counties to endorse Rockefeller’s candidacy, this very personal look-back was especially appropriate.
Luykas Van Alen House
In 1964, the Columbia County Historical Society acquired a simple brick building a few miles from the center of Kinderhook village. The small house was built by Luykas Van Alen in 1737 and is exemplary of a style of vernacular architecture specific to the Hudson Valley.
For this reason, it was granted National Historic Landmark status on Christmas Eve, 1967. There are only 261 National Historic Landmarks in New York State, and the Van Alen House is one of ten designations connected to Dutch New York culture and heritage.
CCHS has been honored to take care of the Luykas Van Alen House for the past half century of its long life. Appropriately, in 2014 we celebrated this important property, and to reflect on our responsibilities to ensure its future well into a fourth century.
Long may it stimulate the imaginations of both the young and the old!
Exhibitions
Exhibitions feature the history and culture of the Hudson Valley and Columbia County, New York, through objects and archives.
https://www.cchsny.org/exhibitions.html
Columbia County History & Heritage Magazine
Award-Winning Scholarly magazine published annually by the CCHS on the history, heritage, and culture of Columbia County, New York.
The recent issue was entitled "Dutch Culture in the Hudson Valley", with lead article by Russell Shorto.
https://www.cchsny.org/history--heritage-magazine.html
"A Tale of Two Houses" - 2-part lecture series with Historic Hudson
"A Tale of Two Houses: Two centuries of change at the Bronson and Vanderpoel Houses."
Part 1, "Picturesque Transformations: A. J. Davis Reinvents Hudson Valley Architecture," a lecture by Peter Watson about Alexander Jackson Davis, the preeminent 19th-century architect whose work distinguishes the Dr. Oliver Bronson House.
In Part 2, Peter Watson takes an in-depth look at the evolution of the Bronson and Vanderpoel Houses, both reputedly originally designed by Hudson “master mechanic” Barnabas Waterman (1776-1839).
"Travel by Water and Land" 2-part Lecture Series with Historic Hudson
During Fall of 2016 we partnered with Historic Hudson to bring two public lectures:
Lecture One:
"All Roads to the River"
by Peter Cipkowski
Lecture Two:
"Before The Proprietors:
The Dutch Port
Of Claverack Landing"
By Dr. David William Voorhees
Where we work
Awards
Proclamation 2016
New York State Senate
Centennial Proclamation 2016
New York State Representatives
Affiliations & memberships
Absolute Charter by the Board of Regents, State Education Dept, NYS 2020
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of audience members with favorable attitudes towards the issue or interest
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of children who have access to education
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
'Day of History' 4th Grade Field Trips; Various school field trips
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Annual 'Day of History' fieldtrips for 4th grade students in Columbia County. The day includes visits to the one-room c.1850 Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse and 1737 Dutch colonial Luykas Van Alen House.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Columbia County Historical Society collects, preserves, interprets, and presents the history, heritage and culture of Clumbia County, New York, for its residents, visitors and those interested in history. Through collaboration with those served, the Historical Society explores local, national and global history to enrich our understanding of today's world. We are committed to preserving, interpreting and presenting the history of Columbia County, New York.
The CCHS serves residents of all eighteen Columbia County towns, the City of Hudson, and visitors nationwide with educational programs for adults, schooltrips for children, public tours and exhibits at all four historic properties.
Our current objective is to reach and engage schoolchildren, teachers and area residents in a largely virtual way as we bravely navigate the present and ongoing pandemic with associated physical challenges, and to continue our mission--perhaps temporarily in a virtual way.
As part of our ongoing membership drive, we market our cultural and historical programs and notable lecture series online to an ever-widening audience via social media campaigns. It is our membership—including and especially member donations—that comprise the most stable aspect of our annual income.
Our longterm goal is to increase CCHS membership by 100% over the next several years, broadening both age and income demographics, (so that we are) also serving a majority of our county; educating and inspiring a multi-generational audience who will continue our legacy for the next one-hundred years.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Columbia County Historical Society is the largest historic organization in the county and one of the largest in the region, as well as a cultural anchor in the county. We are committed to preserving and interpreting the history of Columbia County, New York.
The CCHS serves residents of all eighteen Columbia County towns, the City of Hudson, and visitors nationwide with educational programs for adults, schooltrips for children, public tours and exhibits at all four historic properties.
Our current strategies include publishing more frequent issues of our award-winning magazine, History&Heritage; creating online-tours of our four historic properties and our museum gallery exhibitions; creating a series of instructional 'wayside' panels installed outdoors of the historic structures; free, online 'Drive Through History' road trips; furthering online teacher lessons on related historical subjects; making our research library available on a 'by-appointment' basis.
Since 1916, thousands of people from all across Columbia County and beyond have enjoyed our exhibitions, historic properties, and education programs. Our research library holds hundreds of maps, photographs, and other archival material, important and unique genealogical materials and has been an active part of the community for one hundred years.
The Historical Society sustains a range of programs: our award-winning magazine; an ongoing lecture series on subjects relating to Columbia County and New York state history and culture: the Colony of New Netherlands; architecture and archaeology; annual field-trips for county fourth-graders; and diverse exhibitions in the museum galleries.
Our very special National Historic Landmark 'Luykas Van Alen House (c.1737) is shared with thousands of visitors and students who gain knowledge of 18th century Dutch colonial life in New York state. Each year, the Van Alen house also hosts hundreds of fourth grade students who learn about Columbia County's farming heritage and New York state's Dutch history.
By targeting and inspiring our regional audience, we hope to solidify a much larger, fully-engaged member-base who will sustain our operations and help lead us to our second hundred years of preserving and interpreting Columbia County history and culture. This is the audience who will learn from and help us interpret the material in our collections. It is our membership—including and especially member donations—that comprise the most stable aspect of our annual income. Our goal is to increase CCHS membership by 100% over the next several years, broadening both age and income demographics, also regularly serving a majority of our county population, with the result that our cash-flow becomes less dependent on annual appeals and yearly fundraising benefits.
As part of our ongoing membership drive, we market our cultural and historical programs and notable lecture series online to an ever-widening audience via social media campaigns.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have a diversely-skilled and resourceful staff who are working to build out succinct online tours that may be viewed on the CCHSNY.org website, and on one's cellphone as one walks around a property site.
We have completed a large, grant-funded project of eight outdoor 'wayside' narrative panels for our historic properties, so that visitors may visit the properties and learn about the history, culture of the Hudson Valley and the area's heritage, even when the structures may be closed or temporarily closed.
With the exhibition and interpretation of four historic properties and our diverse permanent collection, which is comprised of fine art, portraiture, NYS and Dutch Colonial furniture, costumes, objects, manuscripts and diaries, we can engage a broad-interest audience to bring our mission to the next century.
Our Barbara P. Rielly Memorial Research Library contains rare volumes, diaries, correspondence, maps, photographs and comprehensive information on the history and culture of Columbia County, its founders, early settlers and native population.
Published twice a year, our magazine, 'Columbia County History & Heritage' includes a wide variety of articles on the history and culture of our region. It is delivered to all CCHS members and distributed free to libraries, doctors' offices, local historical societies, visitor centers, government offices, new residents and many other locations.
Our c.1850 Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse and National Historic Landmark c.1737 Luykas Van Alen House are toured each year by hundreds of Columbia County and Capital Region fourth-grade students, who learn about the history and heritage of Columbia County and New York State through hands-on experience with the architecture and the historic settings.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have restored four historic properties. We have collaborated with 'Historic Hudson', the 'Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon', the 'Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society', and the 'Hudson Area Library' for exhibitions and lecture series; we have engaged generations of schoolchildren--and initiated 'A Day of History' to fund and bring County fourth-graders to our rural properties where they learn about New York State's Dutch heritage; one-room schoolhouses; The original Mahican settlers; the legacy of Washington Irving in the Hudson Valley. We have installed dozens of educational exhibitions; we have published more than a decade of our 'History & Heritage' magazine; we have collected and preserved diverse material that will inform future researchers and future study; we have created new galleries within the museum building and the 'House of History'.
We have made history and heritage a subject of interest for all residents of Columbia County with diverse programming, including various areas outside our specific headquarters and physical properties--and now with a focus on outdoor and online programming, we aspire to inform a wider audience of Columbia County history and heritage, and to help sustain history as a foundation for future generations.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Columbia County Historical Society
Board of directorsas of 12/20/2022
Mr. Robert Peduzzi
Retired Real Estate Attorney
Term: 2021 - 2022
Alexandra Anderson
Editor and Art Critic for various Magazines
John B. Carroll
NYS Department of Mental Health
Alvin D. Knoll
Alvin D. Knoll Architects
Henry H. Livingston
Livingston Associates
Nora Tuttle
Friends of Lindenwald; Old Chatham Hunt Club
John Delikanakis
Attorney, International & Commercial Law
Greg Pettyjohn
(Treasurer) Entrepreneur; Financial Consultant; MBA
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data